Day 12

[unforth]

Today, I feel singularly unlike posting. However, I will anyway, cause if I fall behind, I'll have trouble catching up and/or motivating to continue - that's how things like this have gone for me before.

Anyway, slept in a little today after having chunks of yesterday be a little stressful. Mom wasn't feel great to start, so I went and updated our groceries (more bread...) and then hung out in the room til she was ready. Set a simple goal today: visit the Galleria dell'Accademie, which is the most important art museum in the city. After a typical meandering walk, we found it without difficulty. It was a VERY impressive and pretty collection, with particularly strong representation of 14th - 18th century art (almost all Italian, most of it Venetian.) The two most interesting components were the 13th - 15th century religious icons, some of which were amazingly beautiful, and some of which definitely showed the transition from the Byzantine style of a later style. The works of a Luciano Veneziano were particularly fine, and there was a truly bizarre couple of images on the torments awaiting in hell.

These all occupied the first room; when I stepped in to the next room it was like a time warp, as the entire Renaissance happened to the art all at once. There collections of 16th and 17th century art were AMAZING, with tons by a lot of wonderful artists including Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian, various Bellini's, and others. My favorites are hard to single out, cause so much was lovely, but the ones I can think of include a lovely Madonna and Baby by Titian, a couple interesting Tintorettos, including a Adam and Eve taking the apple, Cane and Able fighting, and St. George and the Dragon (these three were lined up together on the same wall; what a wall!). The works by Veronese were also interesting, though none are springing to mind just now. Some of the works by both Veronese and Tintoretto were on a really massive scale, like a huge Wedding at Canae, at a Sacred Wedding of St. Catherine. From there, the collection became less impressive, but there were a few Guardi and Guardi-esque paintings of Venice that were nice, and a really neat though strange painting of Homer playing a violin. There was a massive cycle of the Life of St. Urusula, which appealed to me mostly because of their clothing, which was by Carpaccio. Then, in the last room, there were some works on display that were rooms that are currently closed; the most impressive by far was a Pieta by Bellini, though there were some other interesting works that were clearly supposed to be in a room that transitioned between the religious icons of the 13 - 15th centuries and the Renaissance works of the 15th - 17th century. :)

From there, we wandered back to the hotel. I hung out for a bit, and then a little later I ducked out and did a lit bit of gift shopping. And that was about all there was to today!